Tuscany & Rome
November 15 - December 4, 2008
November 15 – December 4, 2008 Saturday, November 15 – Flight to Pisa Jensen and I took the train from Bedford to Gatwick and caught an easyJet flight to Pisa. My brother, Doug picked us up at the airport for the hour’s drive to Bagna di Lucca, a small village just north of Lucca. …
Turkey
26 July - 3 August 2008 ..Read more
26 July – 3 August 2008 Saturday 26 July – Flight to Istanbul, off to Kusadasi We flew into Istanbul, where a young man from Backpacker Travel picked us up for the hours drive to Kusadasi, where we would stay for a couple of nights. We drove through dry, countryside, with patches of irrigated green …
Summer in England
If Mark Twain hadn't already said it, I could: The coldest winter I've spent is a summer in Bedford. OK, so not quite true coming from this girl from Nebraska, but it's certainly ..Read more
If Mark Twain hadn’t already said it, I could: The coldest winter I’ve spent is a summer in Bedford. OK, so not quite true coming from this girl from Nebraska, but it’s certainly been wet and rainy and cold here! Yes, there are glorious days of sunshine, but it has never really gotten hot. The …
Points of Reference
I knew I was leaving family, friends, work, and our home - all things that somehow define who I am, what I do, how I "move" in the world. So, I was prep..Read more
I knew I was leaving family, friends, work, and our home – all things that somehow define who I am, what I do, how I “move” in the world. So, I was prepared for feeling a bit lost and ungrounded. But, after several months, I realized there were two surprising things that I no longer …
April 2008
April in Florence, Italy
What a great trip this was - I met Kirsten Soderlind in London on Wednesday April 23rd. We went to the Courtlau..Read moreApril in Florence, Italy What a great trip this was – I met Kirsten Soderlind in London on Wednesday April 23rd. We went to the Courtlaud Institute of Art on the Strand. The highlights were a still life of a bouquet of flowers by Monet and a landscape by Van Gogh – I’d never even …
March 2008
March 9 - 22: Lisbon and Spain -by Den
Our 2-week, easy cheap vacation to Lisbon and Spain turned into quite a planning ordeal. We thought we could just rent a car and drive through southern..Read moreMarch 9 – 22: Lisbon and Spain -by Den Our 2-week, easy cheap vacation to Lisbon and Spain turned into quite a planning ordeal. We thought we could just rent a car and drive through southern Portugal and Spain, stopping at intriguing villages, maybe along the coast in quaint hillside towns. However, it soon dawned …
February 2008
Tuesdays at St. Pauls
St Paul's Church holds a lunchtime concert on Tuesdays. I started going to these sometime in November. The church is a sturdy grey brick building, with a huge steeple, ..Read moreTuesdays at St. Pauls St Paul’s Church holds a lunchtime concert on Tuesdays. I started going to these sometime in November. The church is a sturdy grey brick building, with a huge steeple, good stained glass windows, and is surrounded by a cemetery. Now, this is in the center of downtown Bedford, traffic is whipping …
January 2008
January 12-13: Anniversary Weekend in London
It was a brisk walk to the train stat..Read more
January 12-13: Anniversary Weekend in London It was a brisk walk to the train station, but a bright morning. It’s just about an hour train ride to London. At the new St Pancras station, we took the Tube to South Kensington, where we had made reservations at a small hotel near the Victoria and Albert …
December 2007
The End of an Era
This month marked a milestone in the Miller family - my mother, Eunice Christine Jensen Miller died on December ..Read more
The End of an Era This month marked a milestone in the Miller family – my mother, Eunice Christine Jensen Miller died on December 7th at the age of 93, just six weeks before her 94th birthday. Mom had 93 really good years, and a few difficult months here at the end. She was ready to “go home,” as …
Remembrance Day
November 11, 2007
Den and I headed out to take a bike ride on our new bikes, and we ran upon the Remembrance Day Ceremony at the Embankment. So..Read more
November 11, 2007 Den and I headed out to take a bike ride on our new bikes, and we ran upon the Remembrance Day Ceremony at the Embankment. So, we hung around to see how “Veteran’s Day” is observed. Imagine what it was like here in Britain, after six years of war, to finally know …
Our First Visitors
November 9-11, 2007
How wonderful to see Kirsten Soderlind and her husband Stephen del Prete! They were in London on business and extended their ti..Read more
November 9-11, 2007 How wonderful to see Kirsten Soderlind and her husband Stephen del Prete! They were in London on business and extended their time to include a weekend here in Bedford. We mostly walked the sites of Bedford and talked, stopping at local pubs. Interestingly we found out that most of the pubs in …
Word for the day: Deportment
November 8, 2007
It was a typical day, out shopping off my list of things needed for the flat. I try to be careful with the weight ..Read more
November 8, 2007 It was a typical day, out shopping off my list of things needed for the flat. I try to be careful with the weight and amount of purchases, as I have to carry everything home. But, like many days, my shopping cart was bigger than my tote bags. So, there I am …
Driving in the Dark
It was like a mad-hatters ride, driving to Woburn in the dark! Geez, cars and trucks coming straight at us -- the 2-lane road is winding, we're hugging..Read more
It was like a mad-hatters ride, driving to Woburn in the dark! Geez, cars and trucks coming straight at us — the 2-lane road is winding, we’re hugging the left side of the narrow pavement, it’s dark, and it appears that we’re going to be smashed in a head-on collision at any moment! And, the …
Bloody Blogging!
OK, this day-to-day stuff is ridiculous! I can barely write it, how can anyone stand to read it? So, from now on, I'll be writing some stuff, but certainly not a day-by-day account. Living in England ..Read more
OK, this day-to-day stuff is ridiculous! I can barely write it, how can anyone stand to read it? So, from now on, I’ll be writing some stuff, but certainly not a day-by-day account. Living in England is different, and I’d love to share those things — and, to look back on how things felt, what …
November News
Nov 1, Thursday: Connected! Whooooeee, we have broadband - not sure yet how to set up our wireless router (pronounced rooter) that we brought ..Read more
Nov 1, Thursday: Connected! Whooooeee, we have broadband – not sure yet how to set up our wireless router (pronounced rooter) that we brought from Seattle, but at least we can read email whenever we want. Nov 2, Friday: Bedford Auction I had heard about the Auction – a good place to buy and sell everything from …
An English October
Sunday, October 14, 2007: Moving to Bedford Has it just been three days?? It seems like we've been here much longer than that, we've done so ..Read more
Sunday, October 14, 2007: Moving to Bedford Has it just been three days?? It seems like we’ve been here much longer than that, we’ve done so much! We’re staying in a rather rustic B&B, the Hertford House (pronounced Hart-ford) on de Parys (d’Paris) Avenue – it seems like the pronunciation of a word is rather different from its spelling, which …
England Ahoy!
September 10, 2007: The Day of the Visas
This was the culmination of several months of filling our forms (the Bedford Medical Practice did most of ..Read more
September 10, 2007: The Day of the Visas This was the culmination of several months of filling our forms (the Bedford Medical Practice did most of the forms for the work permit), verifying that we are who we say we are, and waiting for the processing wheels to grind out our visas. Next step: one-way …